Ukraine LIVE updates as Russian forces carry out 'horrific rocket strikes' on Kyiv overnight

Fresh strikes have hit Kyiv overnight, amid warnings Russian forces are closing in on the capital.

The Ukrainian foreign minister, Dmytro Kuleba, said in a tweet just before 4am on Friday (February 25) that “horrific rocket strikes” hit the capital in an attack he compared to the city’s 1941 shelling by Nazi Germany.

“Last time our capital experienced anything like this was in 1941 when it was attacked by Nazi Germany,” he said.

“Ukraine defeated that evil and will defeat this one. Stop Putin. Isolate Russia. Sever all ties. Kick Russia out of (everywhere).”

Russia's attack on Ukraine continues today as key cities and military bases are targeted by Vladimir Putin's troops.

Ukraine’s government said Russia has launched a “full-scale war” in the Eastern European nation as residents attempted to flee their cities on Thursday.

The Russian president threatened any foreign country attempting to interfere with “consequences you have never seen”.

Ukraine lost control of the Chernobyl nuclear plant, while Ukrainian forces were battling other troops just miles from Kyiv for control of a strategic airport.

Large explosions were heard in the capital and in other cities, and people massed in train stations and took to roads, as the government said the former Soviet republic was seeing a long-anticipated invasion from the east, north and south.

The chief of the Nato alliance said the “brutal act of war” shattered peace in Europe, joining a chorus of world leaders who decried the attack.

In the UK, Boris Johnson said he would be hitting Russia with the “largest and most severe” package of sanctions it has ever faced.

He branded Mr Putin a “blood-stained aggressor” for invading Ukraine as he updated MPs in the House of Commons.

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